Forest landscape pattern analysis under urbanization in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Abstract

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was one of the most developed regions in China. Under the circumstance of urbanization trends, understanding the forest landscape pattern in the GBA is very crucial, which helps to coordinate the relationship between environment conservation and green development of the GBA. In this study, the forest landscape pattern of the GBA was analyzed by Fragstats and Guidos software based on the land cover data provided by our previous research. The indicators of aggregation index, area-edge index, and shape index were analyzed in Fragstats while seven categories of land cover data were analyzed in Guidos. Results showed that the number of forest batches decreased by more than 75%, the forest area increased, and the overall distribution tended to be more discrete large patches from 2000 to 2020. The slight increase in the largest patch index indicates that the forest category was becoming more and more important to the overall landscape pattern. The intensity of human interference was rapidly reduced during the same period. Meanwhile, the forest core areas were slowly increased, mainly distributed in hills and mountain areas. Our results indicated that the overall forest status of the GBA remained a sound momentum of growth. This was conducive to maintaining the stability of its ecosystem and necessary to promote forest development in the GBA.